We purchased Mindstorms NXT educational for Christmas. The boys have dived in and are enjoying the robot. If you buy the educational version, it comes with it's own tote. It also comes with a rechargeable battery and better software. As for the software, I don't have anything to compare it to, so I don't really know if it's better.

If you go onto Lego Education.com [url=http://www.legoeducation.us/store/][/url] they have other robots and activities for the kids to do.